Fig. 8: Survival and average weight gain of chickens after virus challenge.

a Percentage survival between vaccinated and PBS treated control chickens challenged with H9N2 virus. Directly infected and contact birds were monitored for clinical disease signs throughout the study duration. Birds that reached the humane endpoints were culled due to ethical reasons. Survival curves between directly infected PBS control group (black line) and directly infected or contact vaccinated groups (blue line) significantly different P-value ≤ 0.05 (log-rank (Mantel−Cox) test). b Percentage average weight gain per day between vaccinated and PBS treated control chickens challenged with H9N2 virus. Chickens were weighted daily during the study duration. Data are analysed by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s multiple comparison test. Statistical significance between the vaccinated and PBS treated control groups is shown with asterisks ****p < 0.0001.